The Entrepreneurial Spirit: Playing Without Expectations

I went to a college basketball game last weekend where a team won right at the buzzer with a lucky shot. Everyone expected the other team to win up until that point. In fact even after they lost the game, most commentators said that the losing team was the better team. I believe them to be the better team too.

Upon reflection I realized that the difference was that the team who won played without expectations. They had nothing to lose and so they took chances they might not have taken if they had been considered a more serious threat. While the better team played with expectations and played more cautiously. They had something to lose.

It struck me that this is great information for entrepreneurs and small business owners as we look at our businesses and life. More often than not, people are more cautious about trying something than getting out there and doing something that may not work. Too often, we look for 100% guarantees on our efforts. And then we’re surprised when conventional wisdom fails us on those guarantees.

When we play with expectations, we find ourselves using words like must, should, has to, always has, never failed, only way, conventional wisdom, better safe than sorry, etc. Wow, think about using those words for a minute and you find yourself tightening up your muscles automatically.

When we play without expectations, we find that we use words like opportunity, adaptable, possibility, improvise, flexible, play it by ear, feels right to me, etc.

Being able to focus your efforts while still remaining flexible and open to opportunities is a great skill for any entrepreneur. It’s one of those secrets of success.

How are you playing?

©Barbara Didion – Please ask permission to reprint this article.

Barbara Didion Business & Personal Coach Entrepreneurs Getting Better Results with Less Work www.barbaradidion.com web blog - www.bizuniquelyu.com

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